Private moon-landing hopeful dodges dangers in desert

Look out, moon. A private company has sent its lunar-lander steering system on a test flight, taking one small step towards a planned moon mission next year.

Astrobotic of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is one of 18 teams competing for the Google Lunar X Prize, which offers $20 million to the first private group that lands a spacecraft on the moon, has it travel at least 500 metres, and receives two videos from their lunar vehicle. And all by the end of 2015.

This week Astrobotic released video (above) of a rocket launching and landing in the Mojave desert using their hazard-detection system, which will ultimately be part of the moon lander. This uses cameras and lasers to guide the lander towards a safe touchdown.

"It's like our astronaut-in-a-box," says Astrobotic's CEO John Thornton. On the test flight, the rocket shot 260 metres into the air and landed safely 250 metres away. For this first flight, the craft flew on a pre-programmed path and took data to make sure its parts worked properly. The next test is due in a few months, when the system will control the rocket's route autonomously to avoid hazards.

Lake of Death

The team's hoped-for lunar destination is a basin called the Lake of Death, where astronomers have spotted a pit with a collapsed wall that could act as a natural ramp down into an underground cave. This location would provide natural shielding from micrometeorites, cosmic radiation and other hazards on the lunar surface.

"If you're underground on the moon, you're protected," says Thornton. "It's a good place to be if you're a human, or even a robot. We imagine that you could build an inflatable habitat and have a long-term moon base there."

The rocket used in the desert test can only reach suborbital heights, so Astrobotic has a different ride lined up for their moon shot. The company has signed a deal with private firm SpaceX of Hawthorne, California, to launch their lander on a Falcon 9 rocket, akin to the one now being used to send cargo to the space station.

"We're all sweating a little bit on the timeframe right now," says Thornton. "But we think that it's achievable."

Correction, 2 April 2014:This article initially stated that the Falcon 9 rocket is sending astronauts to the International Space Station. At present, the rocket is carrying cargo only.

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